A preliminary examination of perceptions of betrayal and its association with memory disturbances among survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

Abstract

Disturbances in memories of abuse among survivors of childhood abuse have been well documented. However, less is known about who is most likely to suffer such disturbances. This article examines the extent to which Betrayal Trauma Theory (BTT) can account for differences in memory disturbances. Freyd (1996) posited that betrayal by a caregiver, who is also someone with whom the child needs to maintain a relationship, is at the core of forgetting about traumatic childhood abuse experiences. We examined whether abuse perpetrated by a caregiver would be associated with greater feelings of betrayal and more strongly predictive of memory disturbances than abuse perpetrated by noncaregivers. We also applied BTT to the nonabusing parent and assessed perceptions of betrayal by the nonabusing parental figure and its relation to memory disturbances. Participants were 113 treatment-seeking women with histories of childhood sexual abuse. Results suggested that those abused by a caregiver have greater perceptions of betrayal and greater disturbances in memory than those abused by nonparental figures. Perceptions of betrayal by the nonabusing parental figure were also found to be associated with dissociation.